Strands of Washington’s hair, next to the book Gaines Universal Register 1793.
Photograph: Union College

A researcher at the Schaffer Library in New York has discovered what is believed to be a lock of George Washington’s hair inside an 18th-century almanac. The strands are thought to have been given to the book’s owner by the son of Alexander Hamilton, the first US secretary of the Treasury immortalised in the hit musical that bears his name.

Archivist Daniel Michelson found the copy of Gaines Universal Register or American and British Kalendar for the year 1793 while digging through the oldest books held in the Schaffer Library, part of Union College in Schenectady, New York. Within the covers of the book, which is believed to have belonged to Philip Schuyler, son of one of Union College’s founders, General Philip Schuyler, he discovered a series of Philip Schuyler’s handwritten notes on topics including how to “preserve beef for summer’s use”.

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But when librarian John Myers examined the almanac further, he discovered what the college described as a “slender yellowed envelope”, containing “several strands of grey or whitening hair, neatly tied together by a single thread”. Written on the envelope were the lines: “Washington’s hair, L.S.S. & (scratched out) GBS from James A. Hamilton given him by his mother, Aug. 10, 1871.”

James Alexander Hamilton was the third son of Alexander and Eliza Schuyler Hamilton – the general’s daughter – who themselves were close to George and Martha Washington. Washington died in 1799.

“In an era when people frequently exchanged hair as a keepsake, it’s quite probable that Martha had given Eliza some of George’s hair, which in turn was given to their son, James, who later distributed it, strand by strand, as a precious memento to close friends and family members,” said the scholar Susan Holloway Scott, author of the historical novel I, Eliza Hamilton.

‘Without DNA, you’re never positive, but I believe it’s 100 percent authentic,’ said John Reznioff. Photograph: Union College

Although the hair has not been DNA tested, the manuscripts dealer John Reznikoff, who has a Guinness world record for the “largest collection of hair from historical figures”, told the college: “Without DNA, you’re never positive, but I believe it’s 100% authentic.” He speculated that the strands might be worth “maybe $2,000 to $3,000” (£1,400-£2,100).

The library’s head of special collections and archives, India Spartz, called the find “a very significant treasure” and “a tremendous testament to history”. “As an archivist, we come across interesting material all of the time,” she said. “But this is such a treasure for the campus.”